PostPoems Be Artistic. Be Creative. Be Inspired!

I remember watching my grandfather watering his vivid back garden every morning since I have a memory. Either planting new flowers or trimming leaves he has always stayed devoted to this day-by-day hobby. His relatively broad garden consists mainly on Bougainvillea´s, desert roses, tall bamboos and even some pomegranate trees and pequin pepper plants, all in which he takes big pride and care for he majored in Agricultural Engineering. “Tito” as all of his grandchildren call him, would change something from his garden every year since I can remember, perhaps adding a new stone path, putting some decoration lights or just placing nectar feeders for hummingbirds (or bees). He even built and painted a couple of birdhouses by his own just for decoration purposes. I remember growing up on that space through the summers and Christmases, watching the hummingbirds pass by, swinging the fallen bamboos as if they were swords and getting stung by bees for the first time. I can even remember the smell of wet dirt and the feel of humidity on very hot summer days, or the time he got angry and annoyed with my cousins and me for handpicking some of his flowers and making a mess out of the grass ground. Yes, Tito takes his gardening very seriously and now that I think about it, it totally makes sense for him to be so immersed in that kind of activity. He is a man of few words but precise advice; quiet, patient and dedicated just as he is while working on his garden and spending whole mornings on it. Whether there was a Baptism party, a small get-together or it was New Year´s Eve; the garden has always been a place for family, piñatas, fireworks and overall good times. For cold evenings around the clay chimneys by the side of bamboos, for a siesta in one of the hammocks he used to hang during spring, and for the table talk in which he could easily talk for hours about plant species, the pomegranate tree´s progress or the different kinds of bugs, which were eating up some root at the time. Of course it makes sense now that I think about it, why he loves to put his effort in a place which functions as a point of reunion for uncles, aunts, cousins and friends. In a place where he can see his grandchildren grow up and play even if we got on his nerves from time to time but, most importantly in a place for making memories.